Talking trade
Nov 03, 2017
WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, USA Rice met with staff from Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture and the National Health Surveillance Agency of Brazil (their equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration) as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Cochran Fellowship program which provides short-term training opportunities to agricultural professionals.
USA Rice staff discussed the composition of the rice trade association and our major trade barriers, including competing against countries that are providing subsidies to their farmers above their World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments.
“This visit follows USA Rice’s participation in a USDA trade mission to Brazil in September,” said Sarah Moran, USA Rice vice president international. “During that trip, I talked with several importers who expressed interest in U.S. rice, mostly our specialty rices and rice flour for gluten-free biscuits, but also because their domestic transportation infrastructure makes logistics challenging and expensive so in many cases, importing from abroad is an economic and timely choice.”